Abington are looking to get a class action lawsuit together, believing Microsoft's actions to be both heavy-handed and suspiciously convenient giving the proximity of the bannings to the release of Modern Warfare 2.

"Microsoft has chosen to use one of the most indiscriminate 'weapons' in its arsenal in an effort to combat piracy — as a result, use of this 'weapon' has resulted in a great deal of collateral damage — many people were affected who had nothing to do with piracy", reads a statement on the firm's website.

As for the conspiracy theory side of the story, Abington reckon that the mass bannings were just an excuse for Micsrosoft, with the release of the year's biggest online title on the horizon, to rack up a few extra Xbox Live subscriptions from those eager to get back onto the service.

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Sounds like complete rubbish to me, but then, this is a law firm we're talking about.